Factors Influencing Continuance Intention of Ecommerce among SMEs in Northern Region of Malaysia

Abstract

Electronic commerce (E-commerce) plays a pragmatic role in enhancing the developing countries’ socioeconomic status. It is believed that the integration of E-commerce into small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)’ business operations can boost up a nation’s economy. Numerous Malaysian SMEs have integrated E-commerce into their business operations in recent years. However, only part of them continued to use it. According to SME survey, the company website adoption among SMEs was 32.6% in first quarter of 2017, 29.6% in third quarter of 2017 and 32.2% in 2018. The discontinue use of E-commerce in SMEs’ business operation would bring negative impact to the firm. Thus, there is a need to promote continuance usage of E-commerce for SMEs. Hence, the objective of this study is to find out the factors affecting E-commerce continuance intention among SMEs in Perak and Penang. A total of 47 SMEs that located in Penang and Perak participated in this study. The findings of this study revealed that manufacturing SMEs’ E-commerce continuance intention is significantly influenced by perceived benefits, organizational readiness, and external pressure. This study enriches the understanding of the determinants of E-commerce continuance intention and has critical implications for government agencies and non-profit organizations in promoting continuance usage of E-commerce for SMEs.